We are both in out 20’s here by the way. I am about 23, Ben is about 27…

So eventually Ben’s friends staring daggers at me unnerved me to an extent that became intolerable and I told him I was not coming to his house if it were full of fags. I said fags because that was how we talked back then.

‘There is just too many of them, Ben. There are sometimes 15 or 20 of them at your house and I have to walk through them with all of them drawing back as if I have the plague,” I said.

“Well you don’t have the plague,” he said. ‘They just have no idea what you’re doing there and they’ve no interest in finding out. They are into themselves… and into each other as often as possible,” he said with a laugh. “Not one of them has the least bit of interest in a woman. You are a like a foreign object to them, that’s all.”

“Okay. Well I understand that but the fact remains, I’ve had it. I’m sick of coming to your house to be greeted by fallen faces and a silent chorus of groans!”

“Okay, well I see your point and I’m sure you’re right. They don’t want you here and apparently they can’t even be civil. So what can I do then? Because I want you to come to my house and I want you to feel comfortable when you do.”

“Well just don’t call me when your house is full of fags to the brim. If you have just 3 or 4, call me then. I could probably handle a smaller group.”

“3 or 4?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, 4 then. Because right now there is usually 14,? he said. “So it will be a drastic reduction but I can do it.”

And he did. He wound up getting the whole group together and later he told me what went down…

“Well I got them all together or as many of them as I could and I am sure that word will travel because no one likes gossip more than fags.”

I laughed.

“I told them they were all welcome at my house. I said they could come to my house and do whatever they wanted but they were not allowed to do anything to make my real friends feel uncomfortable. And I specifically told them I was referring to you when I said real friend. I told them you were my real friend and most of then I don’t even know,” he said. “And I told them that because it’s true. I don’t know half of them and I’m not even sure I want to know the other half of them.”

::chuckle::

“I told them I did not appreciate how they, my fake friends had made you, my real friend feel so uncomfortable you did not want to come to my house and whatever they were doing that was disrespectful would have to stop.”

I was stunned.

“I explained yhat you never came over uninvited and you were invited by me, myself and I, not a friend of a friend of a friend like they were so if they saw you coming up the sidewalk they should immediately clear a path for you because you were my reeeeal friend. I also told them if you knocked on the door and they answered it, they should be nice to you and try not to look too disappointed because you’re a woman.”

I roared.

“I told them you couldn’t help that,” he added. “It’s not your fault you’re a woman not a man, there is nothing you can do about it, you’re stuck.”

I snorted.

“I also told them there was too many of them over at one time which has already a been a problem I have had to address. So you see you didn’t cause this. You are just pushing it further. That’s why they’re out on the porch you know. I told them only 10 could be in the house at a time because come on. This is a small house! So whoever gets there when there are already 10 people inside has got to wait outside and not come in until someone leaves.”

“Oh my God.”

“Oh, don’t worry, this is no problem. They just have two parties. One outside, on in. Sometimes the party on the porch is better than the one inside. You just never know.”

“I see.”

So anyway, I told them these were the new rules and there were separate rules for when you were coming over. Wanna hear them?”

“I do.”

“Well when you’re coming over only 4 fags can be at my house. This is in the house or out. 4 total anywhere in the vicinity where they could be seen.”

I chuckled. “Oh God, they must have been crestfallen,” I said.,

“They were but I don’t care. I like you Elsa, but I like these rules independent of you. I’m sick of my house being overrun with fags myself, to tell you the truth. So it is just as well you’ve brought this up. And I don’t like people being rude to other people in my house and I especially don’t like fake friends running off my real friends like I have many of them! You can be my fake friend but when you run off my real friend, this is where I draw the line and so I have. But anyway, that’s it. From now on when I invite you over you will only have to deal with 4 fags or less.”

“Okay. But where will the rest go? There will be a crowd displaced.”

“I don’t know. They’ll just have to scatter, I guess. They’ll have to find a new hang out.”

“Who will leave?”

“They asked me the same thing.”

“What did you tell them?”

“I told them they would have to decide that themselves. I was not going to pick. I would not pick favorites and hurt feelings. I told them to figure it out… to draw straws or something. I said they could fight about it if they wanted. I invited them to do that, just don’t make a mess I have to clean up.”

And so it was. A week later…

“Elsa, can you come to my house? I need to see you and I need to see you now.”

“Oh God, Ben, how many fags?”

“Well I didn’t count them but I’d say about 12. I’ll get rid of some of them if you can come. I’ll make 8 of them go home if you can you come?”

“Yeah.

“Okay, do you want to hear me do this?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Okay, I’m going to open the door to my bedroom and yell out. I’m holed up in here to get away from them. See how this is?” He opened the door. ‘Okay - All fags, listen up!” he yelled. “I have Elsa on the phone and she’s coming over so you know what that means. We’ve discussed it so you know what you have to do. There can only be 4 of you who stay, everyone else has to leave. So decide who it’s going to be but make it snappy because she’s coming…”

“When are you coming?” he asked into the phone.

“Right now.”

“She’s coming over right now so you have 5 minutes. I’m going back in my bedroom now and don’t even think about bothering me to complain or ask me questions. Just figure it out and you can come on back tomorrow, I don’t care.”

I heard the door shut. “Okay, come over. I’m sure the house will be clear by the time you get here. They know I’m serious.”

You can see how Venus Saturn energy pervades this. We have to work it out. Boundaries are made in relationship so the relationships can exist at all.

And you can see how Saturn would be exalted in Libra because look at the compromise coming from all directions. And no one felt injured. Ben’s friends knew they’d treated me poorly and in effect got what they deserved (Saturn). It takes some kind of audacity to answer the door of someone else’s house and glare at their invited guest. There are social (Venus) rules (Saturn)…

Skip to Part 3 - The Lesbians